If Mello had a Girlfriend, He'd Make Her Cry
by aldeiah
Summary: Rage can bring forth other people's destruction or yours. Expectations can bring you either satisfaction or disappointment. Love can bring you either happiness or misery, but never regrets. MelloxOC
1. At Wammy's House

I don't own Death Note.

* * *

**At Wammy's House**

"This way please." Roger, a man with glasses and thinning, graying hair gestured towards the door that was slightly opened. She took a peek inside and she saw lots of children, probably the same age as she was. Somehow, she felt a little relieved. She felt nervous the moment that she and her brother were asked to come to this place, for a reason aside from them being orphans. _Who would've thought?_

She reached for her brother's hand. He, on the other hand, didn't feel nervous at all. When they were told of the reason for their being brought up in this house, his face instantly lit up. "For real?" was the question he had asked that day just to make sure as he twisted his white hair around his fingers.

His brother turned to face her as her grip on his hand tightened. "Let's go." She nodded in reply.

"Everyone, please settle down. We have two children joining us starting today. I'd like you to welcome both of them." The old man gestured for the girl to come closer.

"This is Mia. She is 9 years old." The girl had long wavy black hair and dull grey eyes. She was wearing a plain white shirt and light blue denim shorts. "Go ahead. Tell them something about yourself." Most of the children leaned in closer to listen.

"Uh…" She hesitated at first but somehow, it felt comfortable speaking to these people - despite the fact that she hates speaking in public. "I like playing the violin."

"Is that all?" The old man asked her. She nodded in reply. "All right, please take a seat there, beside Mello." he pointed to a boy by the window who seemed older than her. She walked towards him and took her seat.

"Next is Near. He's Mia's twin brother and is younger by two minutes." The boy had greyish white hair and solid black eyes and was wearing white long sleeves and loose denim pants. "Is there anything else you'd like to share with them?"

"I like solving puzzles."

"Ok, please take a seat beside Alexa." The old man asked him to sit beside a girl with glasses and was fiddling with something that looked like vials of different colored chemicals. Even though she looked scary because it looked as if she could cause an explosion, she had a rather friendly smile when Near took his seat.

"Hi, I'm Mia." The new girl said in an attempt to start a conversation with the older boy.

"Oh hi, I'm Mello." Mello replied turning towards her, but quickly faced front as a guy entered the room and introduced himself as a Math teacher. Their conversation ended there.

She sat up straight to pay attention to what their teacher was discussing. The boy beside her showed particular interest in the topic as he was listening intently to the discussion.

"All right, now who could tell me the cube root of 729?" Their teacher asked as he tapped the blackboard with his stick. Only Mello raised his hand, "I know, I know!"

_As always, only Mello knows the answer._ The teacher thought. "Hm… Are there any other people who know the answer? How about the new guy beside Alexa? What's your name?"

Near didn't bother standing up. "I'm Near. The answer is 9."

The teacher clapped his hands. "Good job Near."

At this, Mia heard Mello mumble something. When she turned to look at him, he was staring at her, no, more like past her. She looked at the direction he was looking at and found out that he was staring at her brother. She turned back to her seatmate, and looking at his eyes, she could sense that competition had just been established. Behind her back, Near returned Mello's stares.

* * *

Mia picked up her violin and placed it inside its case and headed for her room. Just as she passed by the landing of the stairs, she saw a familiar figure sitting on the sofa. She walked over, and saw that it was Mello. 

She stood over the boy and found that he was holding a news article. She tilted a little and barely saw that it was titled, "World Renowned Detective Solves Another Mind-Boggling Case."

"Why are you reading the newspaper in the afternoon?" she asked as Mello finally took notice of her. He held up the article in front of her face so she could see the article better. "Read the first line."

"The great detective L…" she read out loud. Those few words were enough reasons as to why he was reading the article. "Oh I see. He's very amazing, isn't he?"

"Yeah." He put down the news article and sat up straight. "And I really feel lucky being raised up in Wammy's House and given a chance to succeed L."

"You really want to succeed L?"

"Of course I do! Doesn't everyone in this house?" He noticed that Mia was only staring at him, as if saying "no".

"Just think about it," Mello continued, "Not everyone is worth to be hailed as L's successor. You have to be rational and pay attention to every detail. You have to know a lot of things and be open-minded to new stuff as well."

"I know that, but I'd rather be playing my violin rather than solving tough cases."

"So, you're not really interested in surpassing L?"

"No. Actually, I already told my brother that if ever I was chosen as L's successor, I'd decline the offer, and give him the position instead."

"Oh, yeah, your brother. Near, isn't it? I guess he wants to be L's successor as much as I do."

"You can say that. Though it might not look like it, he's really excited about this whole "succeed L" thing. Which means, if you really want be on top, you would have to go past him too."

Silence followed her statement.

"I know that." He said as he looked away to hide the hurt expression on his face. The way he said those words made her feel guilty. She sounded so excited while she bragged about her brother, only to realize she was bringing Mello's hopes down.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"It's ok." He turned to face her again and smiled as he quickly recovered from what she had just said. "It really wouldn't help if I admit defeat just because, well, it seems as if I'm always second to Near. I'll study harder and beat him."

She smiled at him. She thought of words that would probably cheer him up.

"You know, I guess if I'm chosen as L's successor, I'd have a hard time deciding whether to give the position to you or to Near." She pouted as she pretended to be in deep thought.

"Well, I wouldn't want that to happen. I want to earn that title myself. And besides, I don't need to worry having to let you choose." He shifted on the couch so that he could lean closer to her. "I'd beat you to it, anyway." He flashed her a playful grin.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

She paused a bit before answering, "Yeah, I guess you will." And they both laughed.

"Hey, you like playing the violin, right?" Mello suddenly remembered as he noticed the violin case Mia was holding. "Can you play something right now? I've never heard anyone play a violin before."

"Uh, sure." She took out her violin from its case and started playing a piece that sounded like a nursery rhyme.

"Isn't that 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'?" he interrupted.

"Yup, why?"

"Can you play something more, uh, non-nursery rhyme like? We're not babies, you know?"

"Uh, ok sure." She let out a small laugh. "Sorry about that." And she started to play another piece.

This time she closed her eyes as she played something so sad that the melody would pierce its way through one's heart, causing heartaches in the process. The kind of melody that won't stop until it brings about that emotion that would cause tears to fall from one's eyes and bring back sad memories with feelings of pain and emptiness.

That was its effect on Mello. His mind traveled back to the time his parents and siblings died in a car crash. He loved his parents, and he knew his parents loved all seven of their children. But even though he knew that, he never actually felt the love and attention that was supposed to have been given to him. He thought, maybe it was because he was the middle child - the invisible one. Because of this, nobody could really blame him why he strived so hard to be number one in the orphanage; just so even once he could feel his own existence and significance.

A tear had formed in the corner of his eye. He quickly brushed it off so no one would see him crying. "Why are you playing a sad melody?"

"Oh, sorry, that was composed and taught to me by my father." She sniffed as she said these words. Tears had already made their way to her chin. "It also happens to be my favorite piece. I'm sorry if it made you cry." She wiped the tears on her face with the back of her hand.

"No, I didn't cry. I told you, I'm not a baby." He put on his brave face to look convincing.

"I thought so," she said. She glanced at the clock that was hanging on the wall of the living room. "Oh! I have to go to my room now. It was nice talking with you." She replaced the violin into its case and walked towards the stairs.

"See ya." He said before she disappeared behind the staircase.

* * *

"Near!" Mia just entered her twin's room without knocking. She didn't need permission to do so anyway. 

"Do you need anything?" Near asked his sister as he carefully placed two cards, leaning on each other, on top of a huge pyramid of cards.

"Nothing really. Just came in to say hi." She walked over to the window of his room, walking around her brother's tall pile of cards.

"Really? I thought you've been visiting my room because it has a good view of where Mello is." He said without even bothering to face her and see her shocked expression.

"What?" She asked. She felt herself blush from his statement. "What made you say that?"

Near had just started another pile of cards beside the pyramid. "If you weren't fond of Mello, you wouldn't come to my room whenever he was with Matt."

"What is it about me and Matt this time?" Although she asked, it wasn't like she didn't know her 12-year old genius twin brother. He had already figured it out. He knew exactly what was happening.

"Mello and Matt are inseparable. To you, Mello is off-limits when he's with Matt. It's that simple." He looked at his sister with his deep black eyes. To a normal person, it was just an ordinary stare, but between the twins, it was Near's way of slapping the situation to Mia's face. She promptly returned his stare with her just as deep, narrowed eyes which read, 'Ok, so what?'

"You're not planning on telling him, are you?" Mia raised an eyebrow at her twin brother.

"Maybe."

"That's good." She turned her attention back to the view outside. "Matt just left."

"Bye." came his immediate response. She glared at him before her lips formed into a smile.

"Bye." She proceeded towards the door and, as she was going out, said, "Don't worry, someday I'll visit you in your room just because I want to see you and not Mello." And she closed the door a little too hard that Near's buildings of cards came crashing down.

* * *

He didn't have to be fooled by those words anymore. He knew he'd always be second to Near. It was already a fact in that orphanage and that's why he was leaving. He made up his mind that he would someday prove that he can beat Near and surpass L. Given more chances, he could also be number one, that's what he thought. But he didn't care anymore. He didn't give a damn what Wammy's House thought of him. _Once I capture Kira, things will be settled once and for all._

On his way to his room, he passed by Mia's room and he could hear her playing again. It was that melody again. It reminded him of the things he would miss when he left the orphanage - his friends, Matt, and Mia too, especially when she plays her violin. Just as he was starting to get absorbed in the music, it stopped and he heard footsteps coming towards him and the door of Mia's room opened.

"Oh, Mello." She wasn't expecting anyone to be outside her door since she didn't hear any footsteps because it was drowned by the sound of her violin. "Do you need anything?"

"Uh, hi. No, I was just on my way to my room to..." _She doesn't have to know._ He stopped. "...I was just on my way to my room."

"Ah, ok. I was just going to get a glass of water. So I guess I'll see you later then." And she walked towards the direction of the staircase.

"No, wait," _I have to tell her._ "You won't."

"Huh?" She turned around, confused by Mello's words. "What do you mean I won't?"

"You won't see me again." He looked down at the floor. He didn't want to see her reaction. "I'm leaving the orphanage."

There was a moment of silence before she managed to respond. "What? Why?" She sounded as if she was about to cry.

"I don't have time to explain." He turned his back on her. He didn't want to see her cry, so he started walking towards his room.

Minutes later, he was already at the entrance of the orphanage and only Matt was there to bid him goodbye. Roger, the guy who looked after them, did not bother anymore to stop him. Probably because Near told him to "respect his decision." Thinking about those kind of stuff made him angry.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Matt asked him again as he pocketed his gameboy.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Well then, I guess this is goodbye."

"Yeah, bye." He, again, turned his back - on Wammy's House and on everything that happened inside that house, except for his competition with Near. _Someday._ he thought as he started to walk away.

"Mello, wait!" Somebody was running after him. It was Mia.

Mello stopped but didn't around. "What is it?"

"Here." She placed a silver chain with a cross pendant in his hand. "Just so you won't forget me."

He read the inscription at the back of the cross. _Milan Ritchell River._ "Is this your real name?" She let out a barely audible "yes". He placed the necklace inside his pocket. "Thanks." He said, and he walked towards the gate.

"Bye." She managed to say before she fell into tears.

"Bye." He too felt a tear run down his face but he didn't want to cry, so he wiped it with the back of his hand. He was going to miss this place. But then thoughts of Near filled his head and it reminded him why he wanted to leave in the first place. He walked out of the orphanage with clenched fists and an angry expression on his face.

As soon as he was out of sight, she walked back to the entrance where Matt was standing.

"You like Mello don't you?" he asked her.

"Yeah. You do too, don't you?" She received a nod in reply.

* * *

A/N: I got the idea of my OC being Near's twin sister when I found out I shared the same birthday with Near but that doesn't imply I am portraying myself using my OC. Also, I just made up the part about Mello's past. Hihi. Anyway, please review. 


	2. The Encounter

Please review...

* * *

**The Encounter**

Screech!

She bit her lip as she hit a sour note. _Ouch._ She stopped playing and stared at her violin; it was the same violin she had been using since she was eight and, apparently, it had been passed to her from her father. That means ten years of using it plus who knows how long his dad had been using it. She'd thought of buying a new one many times before but she could never make out with the idea of using another violin other than what she had now. It had a sentimental value.

She sat there, staring at the instrument until, finally, she thought of what she would do. She's decided to continue using her old violin until it could no longer play music. While thinking of doing so, she wished that her violin would put up just until she finished her current composition.

She put away her violin in its old case and stood up to take a shower and get ready for her first class. Although she didn't really need to go to college anymore, considering that she had been brought up in Wammy's House, she insisted on doing so just so she could study in an Art School.

After taking a shower she looked at the clock–thirty minutes to eight. _I still have time._ Usually she would go to her classes with her hair down wearing a plain white shirt and her loose light brown pants. But this morning she felt strangely energetic and actually felt like dressing up today. So, after drying her hair, she sat in front of her dusty dresser, which had obviously not been used for a long time, and proceeded to tie her hair in a ponytail. She looked at her reflection closely, raising an eyebrow. She wasn't used to seeing her hair tied up neatly in a ponytail.

As her reflection stared back at her, something else on the table top caught her eye. She reached for the dusty picture frame beside the mirror. She wiped the dust off the glass revealing a picture of her with her twin brother, Near, when they were 15 years old, just before they left Wammy's House.

She started to reminisce about her days inside the orphanage. She remembered the people she spent those days with.

She recalled the days when she would go to Near's room just so she could have a good view of Mello whenever he was with Matt; those were the days when she couldn't have Mello to herself. Near was aware of what was happening and she made a promise of visiting her brother for the sake of seeing him. The day she fulfilled her promise, all they talked about was Mello because Near couldn't suggest any other topic. She valued their conversations because most of the time he'd be too indulged solving another puzzle or playing with his toys. She missed her twin brother so much.

She stood up and walked towards her closet. Amidst the white shirts and blouses and other light-colored pieces, the hot magenta top stood out. It had been a gift from her best friend, Jill, sent to her in a package on her birthday. The note it came with said:

_I don't want other people to get tired of your blinding white wardrobe. Designed it for you. Too busy to visit you now. Take care. I'll come over there if you don't and you wouldn't want that to happen (though you probably do, but still)._

_Always,_

_Jill (not Jill-y!)_

She remembered her, cute little boyish Jill-y. She remembered how it was only Matt who could remind her that she was a girl after all. Yes, Matt. Jill had a huge crush on Matt back then. Oh, how she would stutter whenever he would talk to her; most of the time asking where Mello was or if she knew this new videogame and how to beat the 'big boss'.

She put on the collared sleeveless shirt. Indeed it had been designed by Jill, it had a lot of those graphic thingies on it and Jill adored those.

And then she remembered Matt; whenever she thought of Jill, it was hard not to think of Matt. Back when they were kids, Jill would keep on saying over and over again how cool Matt was but despite that, she never really saw what her best friend saw in him. Matt was this video game addict and that was all there was to him.

And even though Matt didn't do anything against her, she always felt slight resentment towards him because he occasionally steals two persons away from her – Jill and Mello.

Mello.

Whenever she thinks of Near she thinks of Mello. Whenever she thought about Jill, she would also think about Mello. And during the rare occasions that she would think of Matt, it would be inevitable to think about Mello. To put it simply, Mello was the person she thought about the most. And now that she was thinking about Wammy's House, she was also thinking about Mello.

She had first met him nine years ago. She was nine, he was eleven. She developed a huge crush on him a year later. There were many little things that attracted her to him but she loved his optimism the most.

"_Optimism?" her best friend said with an obvious hint of surprise. "Really now." It as if two pieces of the puzzle didn't fit__ together – Mello and the word 'optimism'._

"_Why do you say that as if he can't be __optimistic?" Mia defended her point. "Why? Is he pessimistic?"_

"_No, it's not that. It's just that, well." Jill paused, looking for the right words. "Well, optimistic wouldn't exactly be one of the first words I'd think of when asked to describe him."_

"_But he's not pessimistic, is he?" she insisted._

"_Alright fine, he's not. But you know…" she scratched her head out of frustration. "You're giving me a headache."_

"_You're giving yourself a headache." she pointed out. "Just accept it. I. like. Mello's. optimism." pronouncing each word slowly as if she was talking a pre-schooler._

_Jill pouted before sticking out her tongue at her best friend. "Alright, alright. I give in. But since when did you see this optimism of him."_

"_About a week ago, when I talked to him about succeeding L."_

"_So you really like him?"_

"_Yeah, I do.__"_

"_Why?"_

"_Because he's optimistic?" she didn't exactly know what her friend wanted to hear._

"_No, aside from that."_

_Mia paused to think. __This interrogation was giving her a headache. She had no idea what it was her best friend wanted to hear. She figured that she had to use her secret weapon. "Matt."_

"_What?" Jill blushed a bit at the mention of his name._

"_Matt. Matt. Matt."_

"_What the—" she blushed some more._

"_Matt."_

_Jill grabbed the neck of Mia's shirt and pulled her closer. "Stop it, you're making me blush." She said in a hushed voice._

"_Oh hi Matt!"_

"_Stop tha—" Jill stopped when she saw that her friend was looking at something, or someone rather, behind her._

"_Hi Mia." It was Matt. "Hi Jill."_

_Jill let go of Mia's shirt. "Hi Matt."_

"_Oh, I have to go now." Mia said slyly, eyeing the 'couple'. "By the way Matt, where's Mello?"_

"_He's in the kitchen, looking for chocolate."_

"_Ok, bye." She left the two and headed for the kitchen._

"Mello." she said to herself, remembering how mere mention of his name would send a million giggles to her stomach that she had to suppress or else her face would turn a deep shade of red. His name had that kind of reaction on her and she liked the way it felt. _Back then, I guess one could call it puppy love._

And she remembered the last time she saw him a year and a half ago. It was on a Saturday, she remembered the day because it was the day that she was free to stroll in the city park.

_She brought along her camera to take random pictures of the different sceneries she would see.__ She sat on a bench where a hooded guy was sitting sloppily, one leg up, while eating a bar of chocolate. She didn't recognize him immediately and went on to sit quietly beside the stranger._

_Mia only __noticed that the guy beside her was eating a bar of chocolate when she heard the crunch of the chocolate bar. She looked intently at the hooded stranger beside her and she wanted to ask him if he was Mello. The guy, probably noticing that he was being observed, looked up and met Mia's grey eyes. The meeting of their eyes was followed by an awkward silence, which was caused by both surprise and disbelief._

"_Mello." she was the first to break the silence. "Uh, hi! It's a surprise to see you here! How have you been? It's been more than four years!" a thousand words would have escaped her mouth had she not bit her lip to suppress her excitement._

"_Mia." he felt the need to say her name too. "I'm fine. Nothing much."_

_She missed him and she had no second thoughts about asking him out to eat with her. "Do you want to go get something to eat?" She received silence in reply; his eyes were still fixed on hers. "My treat." she really wanted him to say 'yes'._

_He stood up and said, "No thanks." Mia started to say "but" when Mello continued said, "I'm paying for mine." And he walked away._

_After a few steps, he turned back to her and said, "You coming or not?"_

_It took her a few moments to answer. "Uh, of course." And she got up and followed him._

She was never as happy as she was that day after their encounter. Jill never visited her, Near hardly called her and her other friends from Wammy's House lost in touch with her – Mello had been her only source of joy in the four years since she had left that special orphanage. And even though they hadn't talked to each other again since then, she holds on to the memories of that day and on to the hope that they'll see each other again.

All these lead her to conclude that she still liked him.

* * *

DING! 

The doorbell shook her awake from her thoughts. She stood up and walked towards the door.

"Yes?" she asked the two muscular men who were standing on her doorway. She hardly noticed that they looked like mafia members.

"Are you Michelle Andrews?" the taller man asked her. It wasn't her real name but it was the name she had to live with. After four years of using it, the awkwardness that came whenever she was addressed with that name faded away.

"Yes, that's me."

The taller man nodded to the other one. "Let's get her." He then grabbed her by the arm and covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief that had something that made her sleepy. She felt that she was being carried by one of the men to some kind of vehicle. The last thing she heard was the sound of a car engine running. And then her hearing blurred, she could hardly feel anything anymore and she could hardly see.

Everything had turned black.


	3. After 5 Years

Sorry it took soOo long.

Please review.

* * *

**After 5 Years**

When she finally opened her eyes, in the dark, she beheld the sight of a warehouse. Just to make sure she wasn't dreaming or anything, she tried to rub the last traces of sleep from her eyes. It was then she realized that she could not do so because her hands were tied behind her back. She looked down; her feet were also tied up together. She also noticed that her mouth had not been covered. It wouldn't make that much of a difference anyway; she wasn't the type who'd scream for help when in situations like these. Most of the time, the only people around would be the kidnappers that's why she saw no point in shouting for help.

She looked around the place where she had been left. She was looking for some sort of exit but none were in sight. The room only had piles of boxes and other huge containers for whatever was being stored in that warehouse. Somewhere to her right, she could make out a silhouette of a flight of stairs. _If there was an exit, it's probably up there._

She tried to wriggle free from the ropes that bound her hands and feet. But the more she tried, the more the ropes cut her skin. She tried standing and succeeded but she wasn't as successful in her attempt to hop over to the stairs. She had fallen face first on her first hop but she kept going, crawling and wriggling like a worm towards the stairs. And when she finally got there, she saw that she was right – atop the stairs, there was a door and it opened the second she laid her eyes on it.

Light escaped from outside of the dark warehouse. For a moment, the light had blinded her, preventing her from seeing who had opened the door. Was someone there to rescue her? Torture her? She had yet to find out.

She bowed her head as the light continued to be blinding and she only heard the footsteps of the person who opened the door as he/she descended the stairs. The footsteps stopped just in front of her. She could tell from the smell of leather in front of her. She felt her surroundings recover from darkness as she heard a click. The person who came in probably turned on the lights. She looked up and she could see clearly now who had gone to see her and she could not believe it.

"How do you do?" he said in his low voice.

"W-what do you want? Why did you bring me here?" she asked the person in front of her. She was, well, dumbfounded. She couldn't exactly make out why he had done this. If he had wanted to see her, he could've visited her in her apartment. He didn't need to drug her, tie her up and leave her in a dark and smelly basement of some warehouse.

"Mello, answer me." she demanded in a calm voice.

"Does it matter?" he squatted down so that he would come face to face with her.

"Yes, it does. Now please tell me."

"Well." Mello had a smirk on his face. "I wanted to see you."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You didn't have to resort to doing this. You could've just come by my apartment. I gave you my address the last time we saw each other, didn't I?." her eyes bore into his as she waited for his reply.

"It doesn't matter how I want it done." Mello stood up and started walking away from her, as if totally ignoring the fact that kidnapping her was a rather inhumane alternative of just dropping by her place. She was annoyed by this and this was probably the first time she was annoyed by Mello.

"Seriously, what are you planning to do? Why did you bring me here?" she demanded one more time for an explanation for everything that was happening.

Mello stopped, and started walking back to her. "You really wanna know?" he said as lowered himself to come face to face with her yet again.

"Yes, I do."

"Hm." a smile formed on his face, a smile that did not mean good things were to be expected, but, instead, the exact opposite. He leaned in closer to her, as if to add to the intimidating effect of his seemingly evil smile.

"I need you." he whispered in her ear.

Mia shivered a bit as his breath tickled her ear and goose bumps appeared on her arms. She didn't like the way it felt. She wanted to hear those words from him but not like this!

They were silent for some time; probably time for her to think of what to say, what to think, what to do.

"W-what do you mean?" she asked as he finally leaned back a bit so he wasn't as close to her as before.

"I'm going to use you as bait." and he chuckled mockingly as if he really meant to scare her like that.

"What?!" she said as her eyes grew large in frustration. She felt as if he was just playing with her. This wasn't the Mello she knew. This wasn't the Mello she liked and eventually fell in love with. It was frustrating to finally see him, after all this time, all mafia-like just like those stupid goons on TV.

Mello finally stood up; he probably got tired of squatting. He turned his back and walked away, stopping when he was a few steps away from her.

"Don't tell me you aren't aware of what is currently happening." He paused, waiting for her reply but there was none. He continued, "Remember? What we were brought up for?"

"To replace L…" she finally said.

"To become L!" he corrected her.

"And so? What does this have to--" she stopped. Everything finally made sense. "That's why you kidnapped me?!"

"You get it now."

"What were you thinking? You know my brother won't come get me. He's not that type of person."

"Really now?" he said as he made his way to the stairs.

"I'm not kidding. Your plan won't work."

"We'll see about that." He glanced at her one last time before he closed the door behind him as he left.

Mia was left to stare at the door at the top of the stairs. _What is with him? Using me to lure out my brother? Near knows better than that. Mello knows better than this. Even I know better than this._ She leaned back on one of the pile of boxes.

* * *

"_Sister, it is possible, rather, it is likely that those who know who I am and our relation will use this to his or her advantage," Near told Mia one day after he was appointed to replace L. "Only the orphans in Wammy's House know about this."_

"_I understand," Mia nodded._

"_And as of now, I only know of one person who has the motive to actually kidnap you and ask me for ransom." Near continued._

"_I know brother. I'll be careful."_

"_You can be careful, but if ever that happens, I assume you'll know what to do."_

"_Yes. Catching Kira comes first."_

"_This means I won't come get you."_

_Mia smiled in reply. This conversation was getting too serious. She already knew what Near was telling her. "I know. I know." And she gave Near a big bear hug._

* * *

_It's been so long._

Mello sat on the huge couch in the living room, one leg crossed over on top of the other knee. He picked up a chocolate bar from the coffee table in front of him, he unwrapped it and took a bite.

"Uh…" one of Mello's underlings started. "What if the girl was right?"

Mello stopped eating but did not look in the direction of the one speaking.

"I mean, what if Near does not come and take her away just like what we planned."

Mello faced his nosy underling and stared at him.

"I-I'm sorry boss. I won't ask again."

Mello resumed eating his chocolate bar.


End file.
